


Safe Harbor

by tinx_r



Category: Riptide (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-30
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 21:09:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/904977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinx_r/pseuds/tinx_r
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick and Cody need a place to live. Help comes from an unexpected quarter...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe Harbor

King Harbor was a sleepy little town, but it was close enough to L.A. that people understood about keeping to themselves. At least where it counted.

That and the endless golden beach, the Pacific stretching out to touch the sky, had helped them choose it as their new base. Plus the sleepy-gold air, the sunshine that threatened to drown them, that turned Cody's skin to gold and his eyes alight. It was as though, Nick thought, something about this tiny piece of coast had flicked a switch inside his partner and turned on a deep, unfettered joy that Nick had only seen before in tiny glimpses. Now, he'd do anything to keep on seeing it, bubbling over in Cody's eyes, lilting in his voice.

But right now, Nick wasn't doing so hot. Cody was a couple hundred yards away down the beach, playing beach volleyball with a couple of bimbos and a hunk of blond beefcake with an amiable grin. The guy was built but heavy, and Nick paused, watching for a moment as Cody leaped after the ball. The beefcake stumbled, fumbling his return, and Cody jumped again, making an impossible shot from just inside the net, shoulder muscles rippling.

The ball hit the sand and in a second Cody had a girl on each side of him, laughing and chattering. Nick didn't blame them: Cody was gorgeous, skin gleaming in the sun, blond hair tousled. The beefcake looked abashed but he shook Cody's hand readily enough -- Nick nodded. He'd pegged the guy as friendly before he'd left Cody to the game. Any doubts, and Nick would've left the realtors for another day.

For all the success he'd had, he might as well have. Nick ran a hand through his own dark hair, and walked on down the beach toward Cody.

Cody saw him coming, broke away from the girls and jogged to meet him. "Nick! Any luck?"

Nick shook his head regretfully. "Even a broom-closet's way out of our league in this town, man. They got rich-guy penthouses by the bushel in all those new developments--" he waved at the shiny condos down toward the marina "--but apart from that, nothing."

"Nothing? Nick, are you sure?"

"A two-room right above a bar, on the High Street. A bungalow two miles inland, an' I even went and looked at that one. Neighborhood's rough, and there's tricycles on every front lawn."

Cody winced.

"Yeah. They were the only things in our price range, pal. Maybe we gotta move on a bit, find somewhere without the condos, you know?"

"I know." But the light dimmed in Cody's eyes, and Nick's heart sank.

He put a hand on his partner's arm. "I'll keep trying. We'll give it a week, okay?"

Cody brightened instantly. "Something'll come up. Forget househunting for now, Nick, it's too hot. Come for a swim, okay?"

Nick looked around the beach. There were way too many people for his liking, but he never had been able to resist that look in his partner's eyes. With a smile that was at least half real, he slapped Cody's back and nodded. "Great idea."

But Nick ended up enjoying himself. The beefcake--Eddie--was easy, pleasant company, and the girls seemed mostly interested in their own tans. The pull of the ocean eased his tight muscles, and playing the fool in the water with Cody drove away the tension of the morning, in town, alone.

Nick was drowsing on a towel, the sun baking the last of the ache from his back, when Cody arrived in a flurry of sand. Nick sat up, spitting out sand, and pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head so he could glare at his partner better.

"Keep the volleyball game over there, man!" He gestured to the net a few yards away, where Cody had been playing with the most well-endowed of the girls. Nick had watched for few minutes, the lithe magic of Cody's movement, the high round jiggle of the girl's chest, the tight round globes of Cody's butt -- then realized he'd either have to take another dip to cool off, or stop watching the players. He'd decided on a nap, to give his eyes something else to do.

"Not volleyball." Cody, panting and triumphant, dropped to his knees beside Nick. "Suzy works for a lady called Mama Jo, Nick. And it turns out," he glanced behind him, and Suzy nodded in confirmation, breasts and curls bouncing.

Nick blinked, and looked back at Cody.

"Turns out, Mama Jo's got a place to rent. Just down the beach a little. Suzy thinks she'd let us have it cheap."

Nick started grinning. "Really? Suzy, thanks. How do we find Mama Jo, huh? And what are we waiting for?"

*

Mama Jo was a middle-aged woman with a graying bob, a captain's hat, and weathered blue eyes that gave Nick the uncomfortable impression she could see right through him. They held an amused expression when she looked from him to Cody, and Nick would have turned tail and run if it was left to him.

But Cody had his best meeting-her-parents smile on, and before Nick could protest, they were walking out of the drycleaning shop Mama Jo managed and down a narrow alley at the rear.

The door she unlocked was unprepossessing -- narrow, with cracked, peeling paint that had once, Nick thought, been blue. There was no parking, and when Mama Jo flicked the light switch, nothing happened.

It was a room, rather than an apartment. Stepping cautiously over the threshold, Nick let his eyes adjust to the gloom and took stock. One room, not large, with a broken-down couch on one side and a sagging metal-framed single bed on the other. Along the back wall was an ancient fridge and a counter with a sink.

"Bathroom's through there." Mama Jo indicated a door to the left. "It ain't the Ritz, and seems like the electric's blown again. But it comes furnished."

"Furnished." Nick coughed. "Right. Uh, I dunno -- "

"You're pretty good with wiring, right, Nick? Say, Mama Jo, I bet Nick can fix that right up. That's gotta be worth a week's rent, whaddaya say?"

Nick could have said several things, but carefully chose not to. Instead, he looked around the studio one more time. _Furnished._ At least there was a bed. He made his way across the room and opened the bathroom door.

At his back, he heard Mama Jo name a figure well above their price range. He hoped she wasn't serious. Inside, there was a dirty-looking shower, a serviceable toilet, and a stained sink. Nick turned on a tap, and watched as the ancient plumbing came to life with a cough and a gurgle. "Is there hot water in this joint?"

Mama Jo laughed. All of a sudden, Nick liked her a whole lot more. He turned, grinning, to find her grinning back.

"I believe it's happened from time to time," she said.

"So listen." Nick walked back to Cody's side, feeling the weight of Cody's gaze. Knowing, without needing to be told, how badly Cody needed some place, this place, to call theirs. "We got nothing right now. But we're not afraid of work, and we can do most things. If you cut us a deal, by the time we leave, this place'll maybe have lights and hot water."

"I'll give you a month," Mama Jo said, and nodded. "At half the price I just said. And then we'll see."

Nick nodded back as Cody said, "We'll take it," sounding like a little boy at Christmas. It filled Nick's heart, started a bubble in his chest, happiness and love and freedom.

Mama Jo tossed the keys to Nick. "Couch folds out to a bed, anyone asks," she said with a mock salute, then grinned. "Rent's due Tuesday. I'll be by."

As the door closed on her, Cody turned to Nick, an awestruck expression on his face. "It's ours," he said softly. "Really, really ours."

"It's not much." A wave of chagrin threatened to burst Nick's bubble. "But I can pick up some work, construction maybe, or hire on as a mechanic, and it won't be long til I can find us someplace better -- "

"It's everything." Cody closed his eyes. "Listen. We can hear the sea."

Nick listened. Cody was right. He realized belatedly they were less than a block from the water, and remembered the last week, camping out on beaches. Remembered Cody so relaxed, so easy-going, the tension Nick was used to in him gone with the uniform.

Washed away by the ocean. Nick nodded slowly and drew Cody into his arms. "It's a good place, Cody. You're right."

"And the couch folds out to a bed." Cody grinned and opened his eyes. "Isn't that lucky?"

"Sure is." Nick grinned back. He and Cody had been sharing single beds so long they had no idea how to sleep any other way. "Come on. Let's get our stuff, an' then I'll have a look at the wiring."

"Seems to me the wiring can wait til tomorrow."

"Oh, really?" Nick quirked an eyebrow.

"Really." Cody smirked and took a gentle kiss. "First, we get our stuff. On the way back, we pick up pizza. And then, big guy, we're going to bed."

Nick's bubble swelled until it filled his whole chest and then some. "What about Happy Hour?"

"You'll be happy." Cody's next kiss was decidedly not gentle. Nick gasped and went in for another, harder yet. "An' I can't promise I'll stop after an hour. Whaddaya say?"

"I say our stuff can wait."

*

At ten of midnight, Mama Jo saw her new tenants emerge from their still-dark studio and head for the harbor. Nick's arm was around Cody's shoulders, and Cody walked with a slight limp. Given how tight his jeans were, Mama Jo couldn't say as she was surprised.

Going back inside, she picked up the phone, yawning a little, and dialled. "That you, Denny? Listen, you make up a king-size pie with all the trimmings. Two boys'll be in in a little bit, an' it's my guess they're good and hungry. You give 'em that pie half-price, tell 'em it's a manager's special or something, and you hang the rest up to me, you hear?"

Mama Jo replaced the receiver, well satisfied with her day's work. Smiling to herself, she headed around back and reinstalled the fuse she'd pulled earlier in the day. It never paid to take chances on people, in Mama Jo's experience. But she'd seen enough to be sure.

Nick and Cody were all right.


End file.
